NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: ROOSEVELT ISLAND

Islanders Say Pataki Added Insult to Cut

By ANTHONY RAMIREZ

Published: September 1, 1996

When the State Legislature passed Gov. George E. Pataki's budget in July, residents of Roosevelt Island, where state-financed development began in 1971, protested the amount of money they did not get -- and the reason they were told they were not getting it.

Asked why the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation lost nearly $1 million, a spokesman for the Governor's budget office, John Signor, cited a State Comptroller's audit that he said had found ''haphazard'' internal controls. He said the corporation had failed to collect $472,000 from the Board of Education.

But the Comptroller's report, a regularly scheduled audit dated March 15, 1996, does not criticize the operating corporation's internal controls and says the $472,000 is part of a dispute between the Board of Education and the island's operators.

In 1990, the Board of Estimate, which has since been abolished, ruled that Roosevelt Island should be reimbursed for discount tram fares for the elderly and free fares for students. The city's Office of Management and Budget agreed to pay $230,816 for the senior fares from 1990 to 1993, but the Board of Education refused to pay the $472,000 for student fares.

One of eight auditors who compiled the March report, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, called the $472,000 a ''minor issue'' that ''basically means moving money from one government agency to another government agency.''

A Board of Education spokesman said last week that the fares were ''an O.M.B. matter'' and declined to comment further.

Councilman Gifford Miller, a Democrat who represents Roosevelt Island, said, ''The Governor's office used this report to cut off funding and that's outrageous, because it said nothing of the sort.''

Asked about the comments by the auditor and by Councilman Miller, Mr. Signor of the Governor's budget office declined to respond other than to say, ''I'm not going to play back and forth with you.''

Last year, the state provided the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation $1 million for day-to-day operations and $5.2 million for long-term expenses. This year, it provided $600,000 in operating funds and nothing for the capital budget. ANTHONY RAMIREZ